Shipping alliance opposes Beckham's Miami arena plan

An alliance of shipping interests and a billionaire car dealer launched a newspaper ad on Monday protesting retired English soccer star David Beckham's plans for a soccer arena at the port of Miami, saying it threatens the city's plans to...

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David Beckham's bid for a Major League Soccer team has suffered a setback after the city of Miami rejected his plan to build a downtown waterfront stadium on a site next to the Miami Heat basketball arena. Beckham's business group, Beckham Miami United, issued a statement saying city officials determined the proposed site was an ''inappropriate location''. The statement said...

David Beckham is banking on Miami voters to make his retirement legacy a reality. The British soccer icon's principal partner made it clear Thursday that a November referendum on a proposal for a downtown waterfront stadium may determine whether Beckham succeeds in bringing a Major League Soccer team to Miami. "I say there is never all-or-nothing, but I say we're getting very...

The Miami Heat, tenants at the American Airlines Arena in downtown Miami, may soon have a neighbor in the form of a new soccer club. Miami Beckham United, which is the investment group behind an effort to bring Miami the twenty-third Major League Soccer club, has unveiled a vision for an MLS soccer venue at the Florida East Coast railway slip along Biscayne Boulevard, adjacent...

MIAMI (Reuters) - More than a year after David Beckham swooped into Miami, the retired English soccer star has not secured a spot for his planned Major League Soccer team, but he and his partners are still searching, a spokesman said on Tuesday. "The Miami Beckham United team is actively looking at four or five sites," Tadd Schwartz wrote in an emailed statement. Beckham’s...

David Beckham has suffered a major setback in his plans to set up a football team in Miami after a second proposed stadium site was rejected. The former Manchester United idol and England captain wanted to build an arena over an old boat dock in the city centre. But Miami's mayor Tomas Regalado and other senior figures in the city said after a meeting that they felt that the...

Bruce Arena sat in a Sun Life Stadium suite Tuesday night, looking mighty happy with his FIU soccer coach son Kenny at his side, his 13-month-old grandson, Wayde, on his lap, and his Los Angeles Galaxy preparing to play A.C. Milan for third place in the International Champions Cup on Wednesday night. The former U.S. national team coach is very comfortable in Miami, especially...

As of 2011, the Port of Miami accounts for 176,000 jobs and has an annual economic impact in Miami of $18 billion. It is the 11th largest cargo container port in the United States. In 2010, a record 4.33 million passengers traveled through the Port of Miami. One in seven of all the world’s cruise passengers start from Miami.[1]

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Early in the 1900s when a powerful hurricane hit Miami, it split the southern end of Miami Beach creating Government Cut and what is now known as Fisher Island. Shortly afterward, the cut was dredged along with a new channel to what now is known as Bicentennial Park in downtown Miami. This new access to the mainland created the Main Channel which greatly improved the shipping access to the new port. From these original dredging spoils which were disposed on the south side of the new Main Channel, new islands were inadvertently created which later became Dodge, Lummus and Sam's Island along with several other smaller islands.

As the port grew through the years as a result of the improved shipping access and growth of the South Florida community, it also needed additional lands to expand its operation. As such, on April 5, 1960 the Dade County Board of Commissioners approved Resolution No. 4830, "Joint Resolution Providing for Construction of Modern Seaport Facilities at Dodge Island Site" which on April 6, 1960 the City of Miami approved the same as City Resolution No. 31837 to construct the new Port of Miami. Soon thereafter, work began on constructing the new port on Dodge Island by expanding the island and joining it other islands in the general vicinity. Then upon construction of the new seawalls, transit shed 'A', the administration building and a new vehicle and railroad bridge, the operations were transferred from the mainland port to the new port on Dodge Island. Thereafter through the years, additional fill material from dredging enlarged the islands of Lummus and Sam's along with the filling of the North, South and NOAA slips, creating the new port which is built on a completely man made island.

The Port of Miami is recognized, and has been for many years, as the "Cruise Capital of the World" and "Cargo Gateway of the Americas". It has retained its status as the number one cruise/passenger port in the world for well over two decades accommodating the largest cruise ships in the world and the operations of such major cruise lines as Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line, until the late 2000s, when Port Everglades was chosen as home to the largest cruise ships in the world, Oasis of the Seas and its sister ship, Allure of the Seas.

As the "Cargo Gateway of the Americas", the port primarily handles containerized cargo with small amounts of breakbulk, vehicles and industrial equipment. It is the largest container port in the state of Florida and ninth in the United States. As a world-class port, the Port of Miami is among an elite group of ports in the world which cater to both cruise ships and containerized cargo.

The Port of Miami is an important contributor to the local south Florida and state economies. Over four million cruise passengers pass through the Port, 7.4 million tons of cargo and over 1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) (FY 2004/2005) of intermodal container traffic move through the seaport per year. This combination of cruise and cargo activities supports approximately 176,000 jobs, and has an economic impact in Miami-Dade County of over $17 billion, $14 billion of which is generated by its cargo operations.

The port currently operates eight passenger terminals, six gantry cranes wharves, seven Ro-Ro (Roll-on-Roll-off) docks, four refrigerated yards for containers, break bulk cargo warehouses and nine gantry container handling cranes. In addition, the port tenants operate the cruise and cargo terminals which includes their cargo handling and support equipment.

Miami's port as seen from Miami Beach in December 2007, with seven cruise ships docked

To retain the port's competitive rank as a world-class port, in 1997 the port undertook a redevelopment program of over $250 million which is well underway to accommodate the changing demands of cruise vessel operators, passengers, shippers and carriers. In addition, to resolve the user's accessibility, the Port is at the forefront with the transportation community and the State of Florida to construct a new tunnel between Watson Island and the Port. The tunnel will provide direct vehicle access to the interstate highway system for the Port users bypassing the traffic of downtown Miami. See Port of Miami Tunnel

As part of the massive Port of Miami redevelopment program, new ultramodern cruise terminals, roadways and parking garages have been constructed. Additionally, a new gantry crane dock and container storage yards have been constructed along with the electrification of the gantry crane docks to include the conversion of several cranes has been completed. In addition, the Port acquired two state-of-the-art super post-panamax gantry cranes which are amongst the largest in the world; able to load and unload 22 container (8 foot wide each), or nearly 200 foot, wide mega container ships. This, along with the planned Deep Dredge Project, would make it possible for the Port of Miami to facilitate even the future largest containerships in the world, the Maersk Triple E Class. The new and restructured roadway system with new lighting, landscaping and signage greets visitors to the 'Cruise Capital of the World and Cargo Gateway of the Americas'. The roadways will change again with the completion of the Port of Miami Tunnel. And to enhance cargo port accessibility, the newly constructed Security Gates opened at the end of 2006 to increase the processing rate for container trucks and help eliminate the daily traffic backups.

On May 24, 2010, construction began on the Miami Port Tunnel, a $1 billion project that will connect the port to other major highway arteries, including I-395.[3] Construction is set to finish by 2014.

Another major development for the Port of Miami is the Port of Miami Deep Dredge project that will allow Super Post Panamax Megaships to enter the United States after the completion of the Panama Canal expansion in 2014. The ports of Norfolk, New York and Baltimore have deepened their ports to the required 50 feet. With the correct funding, the Port of Miami estimates that it is capable of completing such a project by 2014. It is also estimated that this project could double Miami's cargo business in the next 10 years as well as creating over 30,000 permanent jobs for Miami,[4] which currently has a very high unemployment rate.[5]